31. REASON
REASON
Saje was a muthafuckin’ trip. After being with her for all these years, this was a side of her I never experienced, and I didn’t like it.
If this person I was looking at was who she really was beneath the surface, she had done a mighty fine job masking this shit.
She hadn’t been here long, and I had witnessed her emotions go up and down more times than I could count.
She thought she was playing it off, but I saw right through the faux smile.
All this time, I thought her nerves were bad because we were becoming first-time parents, along with the thought of her not being able to carry my seed. Now I wasn’t so sure. Something was nagging at me, but I didn’t know what it was, and I hated that it was happening now at the gender reveal.
To distract myself, I pulled Saje away from the intense back and forth stares between her, Basheer’s girlfriend, and the woman who I now knew was someone who worked at her job.
I tried to ease the tension and thought it would erase whatever I was feeling, but it did nothing to clear my mind.
But for the sake of this event, I would deal with it later. Now was not the time.
Because I wanted Saje to feel special despite our situation, I had her in mind when I told Basheer to tell the event planner what my inspiration was.
I knew how much Saje loved flowers and how deeply she loved everything luxurious, so I kept the colors neutral since we didn’t know what we were having yet.
With Khésha’s help, the event planner transformed the yacht into a floating luxury garden.
They had executed what I had envisioned.
My mama and Doc walked up to us, and Saje walked away. She couldn’t even hide her disgust for my mother if she wanted to.
“Son, there’s no point in that ungrateful woman being here. She can’t even appreciate the lengths you go to for her conniving ass.”
For the first time, I decided to ask my mama what she saw that I hadn’t. “Ma, what is it about Saje that makes you dislike her so much?” I knew I said I wanted to focus on the event and worry about everything else when this was over, but I needed clarity.
“Baby, I don’t have proof per se. I’m only going off my womanly instincts.
When you first brought her home to meet me, her aura felt dark.
Something felt off about her, and she reminded me of the sneaky girls I used to know back in high school.
They gave off the appearance of innocence, but behind closed doors, they were doing everything that wasn’t innocent.
And Saje has that same look in her eyes like they did. ”
My thoughts felt heavier than before. Was my mama right? Did I not know the woman I married? Was Saje like the women she described?
In the middle of my internal confusion about who the fuck I married, a young woman appeared on the yacht. Something about her looked familiar, but she wasn’t someone I knew, and she definitely wasn’t someone I invited.
She looked around first, and when she spotted her target, she trekked across the yacht.
Her bone-straight hair bounced against her back as she marched toward Basheer.
She looked like she was on a mission. Being a man who observed everything, I noticed right away how Basheer’s woman perked up, nudged her cousin’s side, and they both smirked while taking a sip of their mimosas.
Basheer didn’t notice the young lady at first, but when he finally turned around, his eyes widened. He stood frozen, looking around like he was trying to see if anyone else noticed her. His drink almost slipped out of his hand, but he caught it in time.
I moved toward them, wanting to stay close and find out who the stranger was and why she was here.
“Daddy, what is going on?”
Daddy? Basheer ain’t have no kids.
Basheer looked scared, which made me even more curious about what the fuck was happening. He hurriedly set his glass on the table and grabbed the young woman by the elbow, trying to guide her off the boat. But the young girl was determined to get an answer right then and there.
“Why are you acting so weird, Dad? Someone bought me a plane ticket to Miami and an invitation. Whose gender reveal is this?”
She had many questions, and Basheer had no answers.
He was more concerned with trying to push her toward the exit.
I saw his lips moving like he was whispering something to her.
Her brows connected as she looked more confused than ever.
I had observed long enough; it was time to intervene.
As I moved in on them, Saje emerged from the restroom and stepped back onto the deck.
The young woman and Basheer immediately caught her attention.
She stopped in her tracks, her hand flying to her chest like she wanted to turn around and run.
What the fuck?
I was now standing next to Basheer and the woman.
“Yo, Basheer. Who this?”
I went on alert when Basheer couldn’t even look me in the eyes.
“Don’t worry, Reason, man. I’ll handle it,” he said, his voice low and shaky.
The woman turned to look at me, and something about her felt familiar. “Daddy, handle what? And who is this?” she questioned with her chin lifted, her eyes drilling into mine.
“Oooh, I can answer that for you, sweetie,” Basheer’s girlfriend said, stepping forward and smoothing out her dress with a huge grin. “This man here,” her eyes dragged seductively over my body, “is your mother’s husband.”
“My mother? Her husband?” Sweat beaded around the young girl’s hairline.
“Hold the fuck up. What you talkin’ ’bout?” I spat, my full attention now on Basheer’s girlfriend.
“Saje didn’t tell you she has—”
Basheer let go of the girl’s arm and lunged at his lady. “Bitch, shut the fuck up! Did you do this shit?” he intervened before his girlfriend could get the next word out.
“Yeah, nigga, I did!” she admitted. “This whole time I thought you were planning to propose to me, so I tried to get confirmation, and instead I got a whole earful. You and that bitch,” she pointed toward Saje, who looked like she had stopped breathing, “been sneaky this whole time. I heard you talkin’ ’bout y’all daughter who lives in New York.
I did some diggin’ and found her name and number.
So, you damn right I did this. I invited her to her mama’s gender reveal.
Doesn’t she deserve to find out if she has a little brother or sister on the way?
Y’all kept her a secret for too long. Let the girl get to know her family. ”
My brain was on fire. Was all this shit true? It had to be, judging by the way Basheer and Saje acted when they spotted the woman. I looked at her again, and then it all clicked.
The resemblance.
She was the perfect blend of Basheer and Saje.
“Novah, shut the fuck up!” Basheer yelled, gripping her throat.
Saje rushed over and punched Novah while Basheer held her. “Hoe, why the fuck couldn’t you mind yo’ fuckin’ business?” Her focus shifted to Basheer. “This is all your fault, Basheer! You should’ve kept yo’ bitch on a leash. Now look!”
“Daddy, is this my momma?” the young woman interrupted, crying and pointing at Saje. “I look just like her.” She stared at Saje, searching for answers. “I thought you said she died, and that’s why I never got to meet her.”
She was sobbing now, and it made me look at Saje and Basheer in a whole new light.
How old was this girl? How had they managed to keep this hidden for so long?
“You still haven’t explained anything to me, Daddy. I can’t take this! I gotta go!” The young lady, the stepchild I never knew I had, bawled with her face drenched in tears.
I felt for her.
Basheer tried to reach for his daughter, but she slipped out of his grip and ran off the yacht. “Baislee, wait!” he shouted, watching her run down the dock.
“I fuckin’ hate you, Novah!” Saje screamed, her whole body shaking violently.
“Bitch, the person you need to be hating is yourself. You foul as fuck. You got a good ass man, and I bet you didn’t tell him you and his right-hand man had a child years ago, and y’all still been fuckin’ behind his back!”
I had heard enough, but Novah still wasn’t done.
“Reason, not only is this slut fuckin’ my man, but she’s also fuckin’ Ezekiel, her work husband.” Novah looked at her cousin, her arms flying in the air. “Wynn, tell him. Go ’head and tell him what you know.”
Wynn nodded hard. “It’s true. She’s been fuckin’ Ezekiel, a.k.a. Colby, in her dressing room for a minute now. I seen them with my own two eyes. They don’t know I seen them multiple times through her dressing room window that she be forgetting to shut sometimes.”
Every muscle in my body twitched as I balled my fist to keep from losing my composure.
Basheer was now looking at Saje with his eyes squinted, like his feelings were hurt.
Like he was the one married to Saje and had just gotten the shock of his life about his wife’s infidelity.
She was fucking Basheer, me, her cast member, and probably others too.
Fuckin’ bird. I made a mental note to get my dick checked as soon as I could.
Saje glanced at me after Novah and Wynn exposed all her secrets, and she tried to run off the yacht when she saw the fire in my eyes. The bitch didn’t even have the decency to defend herself or apologize, not that it would’ve made a difference. All it did was tell me everything they said was true.
I quickly gestured for my security crew to snatch her up.
Two people I trusted the most had betrayed me.
Was that bullshit story Saje fed me about her fertility issues even true?
This bitch already had a grown-ass child.
Not only that, but she also had a child with a nigga I considered family, and somehow, they forgot to mention it. There was no coming back from this.